Ready for a Kindle

I decided after a good amount of research I’ll be buying a Kindle Fire for my birthday. It’s a smaller tablet than the iPad, but I like that. I think I’ll actually carry it in my purse and it can be something I can do when I’m waiting or the kids are waiting. And I love the Amazon Prime deal with it. If you are a prime member -$80 per year- you get free 2-day shipping on Amazon for anything, and you get one book per month from their lending library. We order quite a few things off Amazon and a book a month is worth more than $80 alone.

And I know, I know, the iPad is AMAZING. I have no doubt it’s the best tablet out there. But I can’t justify to myself or Steve that I need to spend another $300 for it. I think the Fire will be great for me. Can’t wait to prop it up in the kitchen for my many Pinterest recipes …

And I’ve already ordered a cover. Isn’t she cute?

A sweet Valentine’s Day

I didn’t really take many photos.

But we had a lot of sweet moments this Valentines Day. The girls couldn’t wait to open a box from their Grandparents in Michigan so they called them the night before and begged. They were so happy with their things, who can blame them?

They also got a few things from mom and dad. This stuffed animal was actually from grandma and grandpa. We got Ella a little pink album that is a scrapbook all about her. She carried it around all day and filled out many pages. Their other grandparents sent sweet cards with stickers and a dollar for each year in age. Ella used her money to buy snacks for her and her daddy at Star Wars this weekend.

We surprised Steve with this cake in the morning. Ella kept a good secret. And it was so yummy. Not as good as the peanut butter sundae from DeBrands Steve got me though.

Ella made really nice presents for her class too. She picked out little Tinkerbell notebooks for the girls and Spiderman notebooks for the boys. We tied a small bag of candy on each and she attached a Valentine she wrote herself. She was very proud of herself and I was too.

Hope you all had great Valentines Days!

Bathroom – before and after

Our sad little downstairs half-bath was remodeled last week. Yippee! And now, for the long-anticipated photos …

BEFORE

A depressing streaky, bad sage green paint job covered the walls before. And I never understood towel bars over the toilet. I don’t need a towel at the toilet.

This is an example of  some of the paint job in the room.

Vine-covered country-looking light fixture was just not our bag.

AFTER

Love the new blue-green color! May be hard to see the difference in photos, but it is very different. We chose a funky magazine rack/art piece for the wall. And we’re getting a piece of art framed for above the toilet.

And here are the major improvements. (By the way, it’s not easy to get photos in a tiny room!) New vanity with new counter and faucet. Big oval mirror and light fixture from Lowe’s. And a towel ring next to the sink. Now that makes sense.

I stole this photo from the mudroom – which I replaced with a clock in there.

A simple change like a new vent cover really helps. Why didn’t we get rid of that nasty old one before?

And now I have storage drawers! Way better than two big open cabinets.

Organized storage: a thing of beauty!

And here is one very happy customer, who filled up those new drawers in just minutes with her things!

Life around our house

The other day I asked Eva if she had any dreams the night before. I remembered suddenly I used to ask Ella all the time and she would have some funny answers. I didn’t know if Eva would even know what I was talking about, but she replied with “Dinasours.” “Hugged dinasours.” I think that’s pretty cool!

We’ve been reading a lot of books lately at home. It’s one activity all three of us girls really like to do together. I let Ella pick out some new ones in her Scholastic Club from preschool this week too. We have a new Llama, Llama book, a Hello Kitty book and some Valentines book to look forward to.

We’re so into our tech toys at home right now. Tablets and phone games … Eva’s favorite thing is to find the Party Rockers song and dance like a mad woman. Ella prefers word games and taking photos of herself. She’s dying to get her own tablet … I am too honestly. Wish our birthdays would hurry up and get here!